Author's Note: Tenten/Lee friendship. Set the day before he has his surgery. Spoilers up through current anime episodes.

Questions On Dying

"Tenten, can I ask you something?"

Konoha's weapons specialist raised her fingers, the rings of four kunai around her knuckles. She leaned forward slightly, shifting her balance and casually focused on the painted target over Lee's head, unconcerned that she might accidentally hit him instead of the dummy. There was only one time in her life that she had missed. She would not repeat it.

"Mmmm. Go ahead."

She pressed her lips together, inhaling and exhaling with perfect concentration, in harmony with everything around her, even Lee's heartbeat. It was good meditation technique that enhanced her accuracy, if it could be enhanced. She used it now to prepare herself for the question she knew he her teammate was going to ask.

"If you were me, what would you do?"

Tenten let the kunai's fly, barely watching. She knew exactly where they would hit. Her eyes fell to Lee's serious black eyes, his crippled leg, the crutch in his lap and she sighed soundlessly. It wasn't as if the question had plagued her. It was something she always thought about when she went to visit him in the hospital, she just had never come to any real conclusion.

"I don't know," she said at last, walking over to sit next to him. She leaned back against the tree, suddenly tired. "I've been thinking about it a lot. Ever since I was little I knew I wanted to be a great ninja like Tsunade-sama. I've worked hard for that dream and I wouldn't want to give it up, but…" She gazed upwards at the sky. "Living is important, too." She paused before turning to him, a smile creeping across her face. "Why do you ask? You've already made your decision."

He twirled blades of grass around his fingers absently. "I just wondered." He sat back after a moment, still serious. "Neji would have the surgery as well, I know it."

Tenten snorted. "Probably. He's too arrogant to think he might die."

Lee smiled. "I'm surprised you two aren't training together today. Where is he?"

"We're meeting later. I told him I was training with you this afternoon."

He blinked. "Training? But Tenten, I can't really…"

"I know, but you make a nice target," she teased, laughing. "Although I'm not sure your nurses would like hearing I broke you out of the hospital just to throw knives at your head."

"Probably not," he conceded, and grabbed his crutch to stand up. She followed his lead, letting him steady himself against her before starting back silently for the hospital. They walked with the steadiness of two people who had been part of a team so long that they could reach each other's thoughts, and knew what the other would do before they did. It was a comfortable feeling that Tenten loved, and she knew both Lee and Neji felt the same. When the three of them were together, there was no stopping them.

There were only a few blocks from the hospital, Tenten mentally preparing several excuses for Lee's absence, when his crutch caught in a large sidewalk crack and he lurched forward, off balance. Tenten reached out and caught his arm, blessing her quick reflexes as he straightened, adjusting his crutch underneath his arm again.

They made it to the hospital without any more incidents and she saw him back to his room, wishing him luck with a smile.

"Do your best, Lee! I expect to see you up and walking tomorrow, understood?"

He saluted her fiercely. "Yes, ma'am!"

She smiled. "Then until tomorrow." She waved and closed the door, collapsing to lean her forehead against it, tears in her eyes. It was possible he might be dead tomorrow. It was possible. She didn't want to believe it, and she would never want him to know she was upset. The thought was not one she could easily entertain. Sure, Lee was an idiot sometimes, and stubborn to a fault, but he had always come through for her, cheering her on in the Chuunin Exam and generally believing in her.

"He's going to make it," she whispered to herself. "He's going to make it."

She left that sterile, cold environment and hoped she would be back tomorrow.

The End.